Left: William Foot and Mike Heyworth (Council for British Archaeology) accept the IFA award for the Defence of Britain project from Sir Neil Cossons (left) of English Heritage.

A pioneering study of the archaeology of Twentieth century military sites in Britain has won two prizes at the 2002 British Archaeological Awards.

The biennial awards are the most prestigious prizes in British archaeology. At this year's event, held at the historic Town Hall in Liverpool on November 7, the gongs were presented by Sir Neil Cossons, Chairman of English Heritage.

Right: Francis Pryor (right) got a special commendation for his riveting book Seahenge- A Quest for Life in the Bronze Age (Harper Collins)

Winner of two awards, The Defence of Britain Project, was a seven-year effort undertaken by the Council for British Archaeology. This collaboration between professional archaeologists and about 600 volunteers has revolutionised the understanding of Britain's wartime defences.

A project archive was created, holding records on almost 20,000 individual sites with information on army and prisoner-of-war camps, air-raid shelters, anti-aircraft batteries, D-Day embarkation hards, radar stations, searchlight batteries and military hospitals.

Right: and here they are again! George Lambrick (Director, CBA) William Foot and Mike Heyworth accept the Silver Trowel - for the year's most innovative project in British archaeology - the Defence of Britain project.